Big Data, AI and Robotics: Buzz or Societal Issue

While the technological developments in Artificial Intelligence offer new opportunities for big data analysis; While the rampant implantation of sensors and connected objects multiplies the capacity of data capture in our professional and personal environments, public or private; Whereas robotics is both a sensorimotor system for collecting data that can feed the progress of Artificial Intelligence and the embodiment of artificial intelligence, which can put it into action in the physical world;
The stakes have become very high and public and private organizations are gearing up to capitalize on the opportunities raised by these new technologies, anticipate their impacts, and better regulate their use.

• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) was adopted on 27 April 2016 and becomes enforceable from 25 May 2018.
• In January 2018, the report of Generation Libre, independent think tank that aims to promote freedoms, all freedoms, proposes a patrimoniality (individual ownership) of personal data. (in French)
• The IAB, which represents a number of key players in the digital advertising industry including Google and Facebook publishes its opinion on its website: “The IAB believes in an ad funded internet. Our goal is to minimize Ad blocking by making all forms of digital advertising more effective, acceptable and relevant to people’s interests. We want to help brands reach their audience and to provide revenue to publishers so they can continue to make their content, services and applications widely available at the appropriate cost. We believe ad blocking undermines this approach.“

The robotics transformation is emblematic of the dizzying technological progress that we are experiencing in a number of fields. Today, it is placing public, economic and social authorities at the heart of a major debate: what vision of society can we wish for, foresee, encourage or – on the other hand – avoid?

The topic is disruptive technologies and thus the upheaval of the ecosystem as we know it. Hence, beyond trying to think of ways to include these technologies in our existing ecosystems, or simply react upon our fears, we need to imagine different potential futures, foresee and script the desirable ones, and make good use of technologies to cause the necessary disruptions for such a visionary holistic transformation.